Slashdot Mirror
David Pogue Reviews the XO Laptop
Maximum Prophet writes "David Pogue, technology reviewer at the New York Times, has taken a first-hand look at the XO laptop, also known as the 'One Laptop Per Child' project, or the '$100 Laptop'. His reaction is very favorable, having tested it out via several criteria. And ultimately, he writes, the laptop is about more than just technology for the people. 'The biggest obstacle to the XO's success is not technology -- it's already a wonder -- but fear. Overseas ministers of education fear that changing the status quo might risk their jobs. Big-name computer makers fear that the XO will steal away an overlooked two-billion-person market. Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers. But the XO deserves to overcome those fears. Despite all the obstacles and doubters, O.L.P.C. has come up with a laptop that's tough and simple enough for hot, humid, dusty locales; cool enough to keep young minds engaged, both at school and at home; and open, flexible and collaborative enough to support a million different teaching and learning styles.'"
...welcome our new laptop using child hacker overlords.
"It is the business of the future to be dangerous" -Alfred North Whitehead
What these well-meaning folks never seem to consider is that not all these kids are going to use their laptops for education and nice stuff like that. A third-world kid, given the internet might well decide to use it for things like scams (especially when he is exposed to the vast wealth of the first-world) and, of course, porn.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
"Pogue" is the spelling.
If you take a path no-one has taken before, you're basically risking your reputation (and I guess in the countries in question your life as well) on something that isn't proven to work. Or, in the case of Windows, isn't proven to sort of work.
The real question becomes, then, how afraid are you? Innovation always involves fear. But it involves ridiculous rewards when you're right.
When you consider that the course of action in question involves the betterment of an entire generation of children, and quite possibly their children as well, you can't be faulted for at least trying something new. Even something untested, because face it, your old and busted way isn't working very well.
What is is all that is. Isn't that obvious?
Maybe they should even sell a proper commercial OLPC (in black perhaps) to consumers expressly for this purpose. Use the profits to subsidize the educational version.
In all seriousness, though, the OLPC comes with OpenOffice and Gimp, which seem like fine alternatives to me for a bunch of African kids getting the laptop for free.
How can you "steal away" something that is being overlooked?
It sounds like they may be defining a new marketspace that others will be free to join and compete in.
...and let lose the dogs of war!
After all, children do not stop needing cool, rugged laptops just because they have clean water and no malaria. Many US families are by no means reach and those pedal/crank/cord charging schemes would come very handy on scout trips. It's a bonus that the laptops will not run most viruses or "mature" 3D games. A modest market at somewhat higher price in US will lower costs through mass production as well as directly subsidize free - not even $100 - laptops for truly poor countries.
The fact that the OLPCs are not offered in US toy stores even before pushing them abroad makes me suspect that they are seriously underpowered machines without much available software and are not as fun and cool as the project leaders would have us think.
FTFA: "The laptop is now called the XO, because if you turn the logo 90 degrees, it looks like a child."
90 degrees in which direction? If you turn it the other way it looks like a skull and crossbones.
I read Slashdot for the headlines, because the headlines, unlike the articles, are usually original and never duplicated
Despite some of my reservations (some of them in common with Pogue) I really hope that this "little laptop that could" becomes widely adopted. If it is, it will be game changing on so many levels. It is so much more than a teaching tool. Not only will it redefine who gets to participate in the market of ideas, it will change the pricing for laptop prices across the board. Perhaps even quicken the convergence between cell phones, PDAs, laptops, and other media centers. The little device is just wicked cool.
However, there are some darker sides to it. Online addiction is epidemic in China. Also, if the OLPC is actually successful, some suggest that their owners would man a CAPTCHA solving army.
In the end, I think these risks are worth the benefits. And wide adoption is the least of the project's worries. It seems as if adoption is taking off a little too slowly.
A rather thin article to be sure, but this machine does offer something appealing - less of everything.
More and more, after years of Windows, then a Mac, then dabbling with various Linux distros, I find myself questioning just how much of the junk on my computers is essential or even useful.
Less moving parts, simpler and fewer applications, and limited capabilities, all sound like positives, not negatives, if only because it could slow the endless stream of updates and fixes, each of which seems to introduce other problems.
I can see an OLPC machine as really good daily machine for e-mail, browsing, and some everyday tasks like word processing, at least with a bigger hard drive. With the option of maintaining a desktop PC, even a generation older, to handle the heavy lifting of Adobe and similar tools, I could probably get by nicely with this little unit.
Three Squirrels
Yes, in fact an ideal "change the world" computer should come with a complete schematics. Local tech industry can then get off the ground by manufacturing clones costing way less than $100 and eventually making more powerful versions for adults and even businesses.
Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers.
'Cause there's no way that you could possibly use one of these things to learn about sustainable agriculture, malaria prevention, or safe drinking water, right?
Nah, an ideal "change the world" computer should come with self-replicating nanoassemblers so it can then produce more copies of itself from garbage as well as provide food, shelter, electricity generation and anything else the user might need.
virtually all ham radios, even the new ones with the tiny pitch SMT soldered components, come with schematics. I'm on a mailing list for the Yaesu FT-817and people have broken it open to swap out resistors to improve performance. Ham radio operators complain that nowadays we are just 'appliance operators': computer users haven't been experimentalists/hobbyists for the most part for 20+ years, although a few still do tinker. I wonder if it will come full circle someday and computers will be more of a hobbyist build, with schematics and more possibilities.
The skull and crossbones is the child. See the website.
How is any local tech industry going to manufacture clones for less? As Negroponte has pointed out, assembly costs for the XO are only ~$1 per machine. They'd need to import all the individual components, anyway.
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
Price has been nearly constant in Euros since the project was conceived :-)
There will be plenty of takers for the foreseeable future. The program caters to peoples vanity, allowing the giver to flaunt their generosity. Nothing appeals more to the western world than gadgets and vanity, and if our obsessions can fuel third world education, then that would be the best thing since sliced bread.
Governments could also benefits from a relatively low-cost rugged PC. Try to get a reasonably equipped, rugged piece of hardware for $400. You can't.
However, the laptops for sale should be of a different colour, for instance red. This would alleviate one of the biggest concerns of the program --- that stolen green laptops became a major source of revenue to corrupt government officials, or to parents who found a few dollars more tempting than their child's education. The goods will eventually end up in the hand of westerners who act like Santa Claus but are actually stealing from the kids --- a disturbing thought.
Selling the standard green laptop is a gigantic mistake. By all means keep the production line the same, but please change (at least) the colour of the enclosure for the resale variant. Help keep the green XO in the hands of its intended users.
-- Fortes Fortuna Adjuvat --
'1st start' computer for 100 bucks. Make them bright black, yellow, pink, or purple.
Once the kids friends realize how much power they will have, they all will want one. By the time the parents realize what's up it will be to late.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"There are also three programming environments of different degrees of sophistication. Incredibly, one keystroke reveals the underlying code of almost any XO program or any Web page. Students can not only study how their favorite programs have been written, but even experiment by making changes. (If they make a mess of things, they can restore the original.)" OK, you were asking for open hardware, but still I think that is pretty amazing.
I'll be picking up at least one of these machines -- well, two, since if I buy one for $400, they send another one to a kid somewhere who needs it.
I hope the distribution isn't limited to third-world countries; there are some poor areas right here in the U.S. that could use these machines. Certain Indian reservations come to mind...
I need a computer with decent outdoor screen and great battery life, one that's cheap enough I can afford to let it sink into a swamp without diving in and fighting the alligators and leeches for it (I do wildlife research in Florida). This machine may be just the ticket.
All about me
I really love the mesh network concept. That should be in the big three operating systems already. Hopefully this will spur the adaptation of this concept to the big operating systems. I can see huge uses for it, from collaborative projects to gaming and of course education.
At the risk of getting flames from a tech-oriented /. crowd, I still don't agree or possibly don't fully understand the mentality behind a push to get laptops into the hands of children in poor countries. I see it as folly, and missing the point of what people really want.
:) ), ebola or even foot
and mouth disease.
Whatever the case, with this thing the future looks bright - hopefully, our civilization could get a few thousand great scientists more a year in ten to twenty years (considering African birth rate and assuming less baby, children and adult deaths due to less stupidity, STDs and wars).
No need to flame, just listen to an explanation - what if those laptops came with a tiny version of wikipedia? Math, physics, engineering, agriculture texts and some instructional videos. Maybe some chemistry and biology. Perhaps they even start some knowledge oriented communities. Using that they can get to know about their surroundings and after some time even innovate. They could use our tech to set up their environment for a more comfortable and pro-intellectual atmosphere.
Who knows, maybe somebody out there gets to start a herbal-oriented medicine wiki and we get some use of it. If that's the case, it's worth it. Who knows what _WE_ are missing by not doing this ten years ago. Cure for cancer, cure for baldness (ha, got your attention there, have I?
It is always better to be a first grade version of yourself than a second grade version of someone else.
Critics fear that the poorest countries need food, malaria protection and clean water far more than computers.
"Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime." Or teach him to phish and he'll buy a mansion and a couple of Ferraris.
But seriously, this is a fatuous statement at best, and downright offensive otherwise. Look at what happens when you give these people cellphones and PDA's? How PDA's Are Saving Lives in Africa
Imagine what they can do with computers that not only have some serious processing power, but have multiple interfaces? WiFi, keyboard, mouse, screen and more? Now those PDA's and cellphones can get data from the XO Laptop in their home, send it along the cell network to whomever.
Right now, the farmers can take pictures of the bugs eating their crops with a PDA or cellphone and send that image to a research facility for the best advice on how to counter the pests. With the XO, they can download a small library of insect pests common to their region and find it themselves, along with the necessary advice.
THEN they put it out on the XO Net and the PDA/cell network, where it's sent to ALL the farmers in the region. "Look out! Locusts spotted in our village, heading east!"
Suddenly, farmers and villages can take a proactive approach to their lives.
Or howabout this?
"Look out! Soldiers coming from Darfur! Everyone get out, we'll rendezvous at the well and head south!"
Don't underestimate these people. They may need food, but these devices will help them get their OWN food.
[End Of Line]
I believe it was Duke Ellington who, when asked what Jazz is, famously said, "Man, if you gotta ask, you ain't never gonna know."
(And while we're at it: You are aware that the majority of the developing world is not in Africa, I hope?)
If you don't get why improved access to information is a fundamental prerequisite for development, then the XO will always look like wings on a fish. If, however, you can accept the premise that inadequate communications is one of the biggest stumbling blocks we face when trying to perform any kind of development work, then you will quickly see why people are so excited about this project.
I met a young doctor yesterday whose initial reaction was almost exactly the same as yours. She's dedicated to health education in the developing world, and she's very good at what she does. When she first read about the work we've been doing in the South Pacific, she immediately scoffed and insisted that we should try getting a steady supply of antibiotics and anti-malarials first. But just last week as she was conducting a walking tour of one of the poorest areas in the country, she realised what she could achieve if most or all of the children there had these laptops. She's since signed on to our national OLPC project as a content developer.
Solving communications is a necessary - but not sufficient - element of development. The XO doesn't remove the need for vast amounts of material aid, but it makes it so much easier for development projects to actually succeed.
Crumb's Corollary: Never bring a knife to a bun fight.
Most PDA's don't have the high-resolution displays of good dedicated eBook readers or the XO
Most dedicated eBook readers are bigger than a hardcover, far too big to slip into your pocket. And my Clie has at least the same resolution as the good eBook readers I've seen, it just has a smaller screen... about half the size of a page of a paperback.
IMO, most PDA's don't make good e-Book readers.
IMO, most eBook readers don't make as good eBook readers as PDAs do. Being able to fit into my pocket is for me a non-negotiable feature, and something the size of a hardback book doesn't qualify.
No, that's just a bunch of shills/trolls who realise this thing's good enough to make people in the developed world wonder why they're paying so much for the bloated, virus-infested crap they're saddled with.
When you see whining on the scale of the posts here, about a project with so many clear benefits, scrape a bit deeper and you'll see the usual greed and self-interest driving them.
"I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
Here, here! Jon "Maddog" Hall spoke at the Ohio Linux Fest last week on "computing off the grid." In his presentation he spoke eloquently on the multitude of good uses for the XO/OLPC program, and the caveats of thinking like a "westerner" in non-western geographies. A very interesting ~45 mins. Here's a bad quality, but understandable MP3 of his speech.
Are you under the impression that children in developing countries are deprived of viewing nudity and sex? How do you think babies are breastfed? How do girls of their own age swim when they van not afford those fancy swimsuits? Where are their folks doing "it" in a shack sans multiple bedrooms?
Prudishness is an american problem. And here viewing pr0n can be argued to have educational value more important than math.